Casinos and other gambling houses have numerous gaming systems in place for use by players. The house typically includes a number of ‘classic’ gambling games such as roulette, poker, blackjack and craps. These types of games allow multiple players to bet on the outcome of the game at the same time.
The profitability of a game installation in a casino is subject to a number of factors. These factors include the amount of floor space required for the gaming installation and players, and the number of operators required for operation and collection of monies in the game. Other factors include the popularity of the game, the number of players that may concurrently play the game, the time it takes to operate a round of the game and the odds of the game.
A well known multiplayer gambling game is roulette. This is one of the oldest of casino games, having been exclusively played at the Monte Carlo casino for over 60 years until 1933. This game of chance uses a horizontal wheel having a number of pockets evenly spaced on the upper surface, located near the perimeter of the wheel. The wheel rotates about a vertical axis and a ball is used to randomly select a pocket. Wagers are made based on identity of the pocket the ball selects.
The wheel typically has 37 or 38 separately numbered pockets, having the numbers 1 to 36, a 0 and a 00. Each number is only used once on the wheel. This style of roulette may be referred to as American roulette. In contrast the European style of roulette may omit the 00 pocket. The pockets are alternatively coloured red or black, with exception of the 0 and 00 pockets which are coloured green. The 0 and 00 pockets are normally located at opposite sides of the axis of rotation. In combination with an appropriately designed wagering area, the arrangement permits the making of a wide range of wagers having various return ratios or odds.
The motion of the wheel and the method of release of the ball should ensure a random selection of a pocket. The ball normally rotates around the wheel near or at the wheels perimeter. The perimeter is inclined to direct the ball into the pocket region of the wheel. As the rate of rotation of the wheel decreases gravity will overcome the centripetal force keeping the ball near the perimeter, and the ball will travel down the inclined surface to be captured in a pocket.
A number of variants of roulette are known. By way of example U.S. Pat. No. 6,302,395 (Astaneha) describes a combination gambling game that includes a roulette wheel having numerical indicia, dice and cards. The players bet on the outcome of two or more of the different games.
There may also be a game that involves using a roulette like wheel having playing card indicia thereon to select cards for poker hands. The wheel is spun five times to provide a poker hand, and as such wagers are paid depending on the result of a set of five selections of cards by the wheel. Whilst such a game may be suitable for home use, it is not suited for casino use as it requires five spins, and thus significant time, to provide a wager result.
Another style of game which involves a wheel is the ‘wheel of fortune’ game. In these games a large vertically orientated wheel is spun about a horizontal axis. The wheel has a number of evenly spaced horizontal shafts extending from the face about its perimeter. The wheel includes a number of evenly spaced regions located between the shafts and within each region there is indicia. A region selecting and braking means typically in the form of a relatively flexible member is located in a fixed position relative to the axis of the wheel and extends over a portion of the perimeter of the wheel and is capable of contacting the shafts. Some of the regions will include the same indicia that appears on other regions.
In use the wheel is spun, and the member acts to hinder and slow the motion of wheel through contact with the evenly spaced shafts. Eventually the wheel has insufficient force to move a shaft past the member and the member then acts as a pointer to indicate the selected region and indicia therein.
Wagers are made as to the outcome of the spinning of the wheel, with the odds being determined by the casino's margin, the total number of regions on the wheel and the number of occurrences of the same indicia on the wheel. This mode of operation is different to roulette like games, as a wheel of fortune provides for differing wagers and odds by including multiple copies of selected indicia on the wheel, in contrast to roulette which uses an appropriately designed wagering area.
However, as a game can become stale it is important to provide alternative games in order to ensure further custom. Preferably the game would also include a jackpot side game, as such games are currently popular at casinos. Furthermore the game should avoid complicated systems so to entice new players to try the game. Ideally the game should use rules similar to an existing game in order to promote acceptance of the game to the public.
The game should be sufficiently profitable to the house so that it is capable of being run at a casino. Casinos may be limited by license conditions to a set number of tables of gaming games and as such it is desirable to include games having a high frequency of wager determination events per hour or a high house margin or both. Such games should also be capable of being operated with multiple concurrent players with a single dealer to increase the number of wager determination events per game.